The Way It Oughta Be
by othorbust3
Summary: Four years later. The students have graduated, and their lives have changed. But they had an agreement. 'Four years from now we'll all meet at this same place'. Who will be the different? What relationships will rekindle? ps: i'm always only for BL & NH


**NOTE: Okay, so I have had a couple of other stories going on awhile back, but they're total flops, basically. I haven't continued with them since winter, so I'm starting fresh. Read and review, please!**

**Disclaimer: Nonexisting Ownage of OTH**

**Without further ado..**

It was the first of June; graduation finally came and now, had passed. Brooke Davis sat on the steps of her dorm building.

"Brooke! We did it!" she heard. She saw her roommate, Macy, running up the stairs, holding her gown that consumed her tiny frame as she trotted up the stairs to her friend. She sat next to Brooke and hugged her.

"Yeah, we did. We…made it," Brooke said with a smile on her face, the one that she became accustomed to plastering on to fool people. The smile that contained no dimple.

Macy looked at Brooke carefully, noticing a glitch in her. "What's the matter, Davis?"

Brooke looked at her suddenly, thinking. She stared at her friend. "Mace, where are you going after this?"

"After…_this_ this? Well my family's taking me out for a big celebration dinner…" she said confusedly.

"I mean, after we leave this place," Brooke looked forward. She'd finally made it into this top notch fashion design school in New York City, but had no idea what she was supposed to do when she was done. A multitude of questions just appeared in her brain, and she had no answers. She was at loss for what to do now.

"I'm going back to California. We've talked about this before," Macy said.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, look, I think I'm taking off early in the morning, Mace. I don't think I'll get to see you before I go…"

Macy stood up along with Brooke. "What?"

"Have a good time with your family, okay? And I wish you the best of luck in your life. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

Macy looked at her, at a loss for words. "Brooke, you can come with me and my family if you want."

"No, no. It's your night. Have a good time, okay? I'm…I'm going home," Brooke said. Her parents never showed up to her graduation. _Their_ home wasn't quite the home she had been thinking of for so long, anyhow.

The two girls hugged. "Brooke, you've changed my life. My whole outlook on life is so different now, because of you. You're one of the best friends I've had," Macy said, sincerely.

Brooke smiled in her friend's embrace. "You too, Mace. I'll never forget you."

"You're going to change the world one day, Brooke Davis," Macy added. "I'm sure of it."

Brooke felt a shock go through her whole body. _Brooke Davis is going to change the world one day. And I'm not even sure if she knows it._ "Lucas."

"Lucas?" Macy asked. "As in…Lucas Scott. Your friend from home?"

Brooke looked at her, forgetting her presence. "Yeah. Yeah, Lucas Scott. Uhm. You should probably get to your family," Brooke chuckled. "Call me when you're in California, okay? Take care."

"Well, you too."

With that, Brooke turned and went to her empty dorm room for her luggage.

"Jamie, if you want this cheese toasty before it gets cold, you better come soon. Mommy's not making another one," Haley called through the small and quaint apartment she and Nathan got right after freshman year.

Four-year-old James Scott ran into the kitchen from the living room that was connected and sat up on the stool. "Mommy, when do we get to see Uncle Lucas again?"

"In the morning," Nathan said, walking through the door. "You better go to sleep early tonight, so it'll come faster." He walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead.

"Eww, don't kiss!" James hopped off the stool and ran back into the living room, claiming his spot on the couch, watching Jimmy Neutron.

"Can you believe we graduated college?" Haley asked, turning around in her husband's embrace, only to wrap her arms around his neck. "I swear I was just behind a podium going into labor like a couple of weeks ago."

Nathan laughed. "Well, luckily those test results were negative awhile back, otherwise it could've happened again this time around."

Haley smiled, letting go. "Have you talked to Lucas today?"

"Uh, yeah. He went ahead and went home early this morning to spend some time with his mom and stuff."

"Oh yeah? I thought Karen was going to come get him so she could ride back with all of us," Haley said.

"Nah. She didn't want to call a babysitter or something like that."

"I don't ever need a babysitter, and Lily does. Because she's a girl," James said, obviously eavesdropping.

"She's older though," Haley said, with a smile.

"Only by a little!"

Nathan laughed at his son, noticing his son's sense of dominance already. "So uhm, have you talked to anyone else? "

Haley put up the tea jug into the refrigerator. Everything was packed except for the contents of the fridge, which they were planning to just throw out. "Like who?"

He shrugged. "Peyton? _Brooke_?"

"Not recently or anything."

"Do you think they'll come?" Nathan asked.

"Come where?

"Home. Tree Hill. We're all supposed to meet on the rivercourt, Hales," he said.

Haley looked at him for a minute, then sighed. "Nathan, that was a long time ago. I mean, I'm sure they'll have their own way. I mean, Peyton's been in LA, and Brooke, New York. Who knows if they even remember."

"Sure they remember," Nathan said. "And they better be in Tree Hill."

"We'll see," Haley contorted. "We'll just see."

"You don't understand, Ross. I _have_ to get home. All my friends graduated college, and we're supposed to meet at home on a basketball court." Peyton stood up from her chair across the desk from her boss.

"They've graduated college and are going home. _You've_ got a job."

"Right, but I've worked for this place roughly three years now. Aren't I owed a vacation or something by now?" Peyton pushed.

"You have to deserve vacation times, sweetheart. You aren't just 'owed' vacations. Not around here. You're in Los Angeles. And quite frankly, you haven't _deserved_ a day off yet, much less a whole vacation."

_You've got to be freaking out of your mind, you old bag,_ Peyton mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

Peyton tied her blazer shut. "Nothing. Have a _wonderful _day." And with that, she turned around on the heel of her flats, and stormed out. Out of the office, out of the building.

Brooke felt her body jolt forward as the plane started to land.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're safely landing in Tree Hill, North Carolina. It's now 3:36 am. Unfasten your seatbelts, but please remain seated until given the okay."

Brooke sat up straight and looked out the window, watching a wall of black move by quickly, but slower by the second.

In the somewhat empty airport, Brooke grabbed her bags and suitcases and walked to the doors of the Tree Hill airport. _Where am I going? And how am I getting there. What the hell is wrong with me?_

She just stopped and watched outside at the cars moving out of the parking lot, and in at the same time. She sighed, and pulled out her cell phone, going to Chase's name in her contacts. They had indeed broken up two years back. She simply realized that she wasn't in love with him, and that the distance was too much to hold her back in college if it wasn't real. And it wasn't. But Chase was in love with her, and assured her he'd always be there for her.

"Hello?" she heard on the third ring.

"Hey."

"What's…what's wrong? Are you okay?" Chase asked persistently.

"No, no, I'm fine, Chase. I'm just…home. I'm at the airport, and..."

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes," he jumped in.

"Are you sure? I'm sorry I just showed up so early and unexpectedly. I just needed to come, I had nowhere to go, and once I got here, I had no way to go anywhere," she explained.

"I'm positive, Brooke. I'm in my car as we speak. I'll see you in a few, okay?"

Brooke bit her lower lip and sat down on a bench. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"No problem." With that, he shut his phone, and so did she.

Peyton went through her long ring of keys to get into her apartment. It wasn't exactly the nicest of apartment complexes, but it was hers, and that's what she cherished the most. She walked into her bright red room, complete with art all over the walls; art from home.

"What're you doing home so early?" he asked.

Peyton jumped and turned around. "What're you still doing _here_?" It was Marty, her very own 'beneficial friend'. She was obviously the one against it when she was younger, especially when Brooke had her own fair share of these special acquaintances, but she had a change of mind when she became lonely in LA, when she had no one. And she met Marty at the record label when she first helped out there. They both had the world's most complicated pasts, so they were the perfect candidates. Marty fell for her way before she gave in, right around when Lucas broke up with her.

They broke up Lucas's sophomore year in college. It was more of a 'I want don't think it's right to be tied down when we're across the country from one another' than a 'I'm done with you'. Peyton had gotten over him. But there was still a vacancy in her heart that she was determined to fill by Marty. So they started having sex.

"I was off today, and I woke up late. And well, I've yet to leave. No real reason," he said, watching the television.

"I talked to Ross today. He won't let me leave," Peyton sat on her counter top, looking through mail.

"Hm."

Peyton looked up at Marty, the careless man he's always been. "I'm leaving anyways."

"Hm," he repeated. But then it registered. "Wait, what?"

"I'm going back home," she repeated, matter-of-factly.

"Can you just drop me of f here?" Brooke said to Chase, in his car.

"At…the river?" he asked, confusedly.

She looked over at him. "Yeah. Rivercourt. I want it to be the first place I go back to, like it's supposed to be."

"Are you planning on meeting someone out there at 4 am?"

"No," she answered. "I just want to be out there for a little, okay?"

"Brooke, just go back to my place and sleep. Come out here in the morning," he told her.

"Please just stop the car," she told him, as he did so. "I'll call you later or something if I need anything."

Chase sighed. "Promise?"

"Yes. Just take my stuff back to your place anyhow. I'll get it."

"Do you want me to come with you?" he pushed.

"Nah. I want to be alone." And with that, she got out of the car and walked out onto the dark court. Lights lit it up and the river was at such ease. It was breathtaking. Downtown Tree Hill's lights lit up across the river, and Brooke felt a chill go through her body. This is where she's supposed to be. _This_ is her home.

She sighed and turned around to the direction of the picnic tables. The closer she got to them, the more of a startle she got at what she found.

He had looked over from his laptop at her long before she realized she wasn't alone. He watched her stand in front of the river taking it all in. He watched her run her hands through her hair about five times and counting, to keep the wind from blowing it all over repeatedly. "Well, looks like someone came early for the occasion."

Brooke's eyes widened as she saw his face from the light of his laptop screen. "Lucas."


End file.
